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Sunday, October 31, 2010

These are fresh sea coconuts that I bought from my neighbourhood wet market. This could be a seasonal fruit since I do not see them all year round at the market and never in the supermarket before. Sea coconut is believed to relieve heatiness, cough & phlegm (remember the cough syrup brand "非洲海底椰止咳露”? though I think most of the sea coconuts sold locally are imported from Thailand).

You can cook them as a sweet dessert with snow fungus (雪耳), candied dates (蜜枣) and Osmanthus flowers (桂花), or as a savory soup, as what I have done here. Pear and candied date are usually paired with apricot seeds (南北杏）to relieve cough. For this soup, the use of pear and candied date add sweetness to the soup while the sea coconut gives this soup a light coconut fragrance.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

This is by far, the best pancake recipe that I have tried, which yields a very soft & fluffy texture. The best thing is, you will also learn how to make "buttermilk" at home, simply by adding vinegar to milk (I used Chinese white rice vinegar). Buttermilk, together with the baking powder and soda, help to give the pancake its fluffy texture. In case you are wondering whether the vinegar will give your pancakes a sour after-taste. NO, ABSOLUTELY NO SOUR TASTE AT ALL!

The recipe is taken from allrecipes, which I reproduced below for my easy reference. I added some fresh blueberries into the pancake mixture. For toppings, simply heat a teaspoon of butter in the pan and add 1/2 cup of blueberries and toss them around for a minute. The butter will give the blueberries a lovely shiny coat. For a healthier option, you may want to use 1/3 cup oat bran + 2/3 cup flour.

(Source: allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

3/4 cup milk

2 tablespoons white vinegar

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons white sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

2 tablespoons butter, melted

cooking spray

Directions

Combine milk with vinegar in a medium bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to "sour".

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk egg and butter into "soured" milk. Pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and whisk until lumps are gone.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and coat with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto the skillet, and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Save a portion of your stew gravy or braised sauce for another dish later or simply toss it with noodles for a quick & yummy lunch. Not only that you stretch your dollar in this way, you also speed up the cooking process for the subsequent dish. Do remember to reserve the gravy/sauce first. Do not keep the leftover gravy in the dish after meals.

After cooking for 5 hours in a slow-cooker, the meat slip off the bone with ease. I carefully removed the ribs & carrots and transferred the gravy to a pot for cooking over low heat for another 1/2 hour or until the gravy has reduced. Combine the ribs/carrot to the thickened gravy.

1) Wash, de-skin the black chicken and remove all visible fats. 2) Blanch black chicken in a pot of hot water for 2 mins. Remove chicken and discard the water (see tips at end of post).

3) Peel, wash and slice Chinese yam (if using fresh) - see tips at end of post.

4) Rinse herbs.

5) Place 1200ml hot water, black chicken, Chinese yam and Lingzhi in a deep cookware. Slow-cook or double-boil over low heat for 1.5 to 2 hours.

6) Add wolfberries and cook for another 5 mins.

7) Add salt to taste.

Cooking tips:1) Blanching the chicken in hot water helps to remove impurities and the soup is clearer.2) Wear a glove before handling the Chinese yam if you are allergic to the slippery gel secreted from it.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Quiche is basically an open pie baked in the oven with creamy custard made from eggs and milk/cream. You can also add your favorite cooked meat, seafood, vegetables and cheese into the egg mixture before baking in the oven.

While most quiches are baked in a shallow loose-based flan tin, what I have here are mini quiches. I love mini quiches as they are:

Versatile: They are more versatile than baking it whole in a flan tin. You can choose to bake just a few mini quiches, instead of one big round quiche and worried about leftovers. After all, quiches are best eaten warm and fresh from the oven.

Size and cost-savings: You do not have to worry whether the pastry will fit the size of your flan tin. A flan tin is quite expensive, especially if you just use it once in a blue moon. I baked my mini quiches in disposable aluminium muffin cases. They can be washed and reused after baking!

Easy to handle: Depending on the size of your flan tin, you need a pair of steady hands to roll & fit the pastry sheet over it. Very often, you will need to patch up holes here and there. In contrast, a palm-sized pastry sheet is easy to fit in the muffin cases and slip out easily after baking.

Varieties: Instead of making just one big Quiche Lorraine, you can have a variety of flavours - think: smoked salmon & dill, mushroom with ham & cheese, roasted bell peppers & zucchini, and how about some kimchi quiches to spice up your day? They look so cute in their mini pastry crust and are perfect finger food for parties and gatherings!

Most of us would have tried Campbell's soup, a condensed canned soup where you pour the contents into a pot, add a can of water (or more) and cook till it boils. In fact, I had my first taste of "ang-moh" soup, or western creamy soup through Campbell's. When we need to get dinner quickly, my mum will cook a can of Cream of Mushrooms (our favorite), a quick stir-fry vegetables, steamed fish and dinner is ready within 30 minutes!

Other than using it as a quick & easy soup, you can use it in a wide variety of baked dishes, casseroles, pasta recipes to add flavour or a touch of creamy consistency.

Which is your favorite Campbell's soup and what dishes did you cook with your Campbell's soup?

Here is a recipe and baked pasta that you can add Campbell's for its taste and creamy texture.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

I always try to clear the existing groceries and food in the fridge/pantry before buying fresh ones to prevent unnecessary food wastage. Hence, with several leftover items, making banana muffins seems to be the easiest way to clear my pantry.

The special thing about this muffin is the chocolate ganache that I piped into the centre of each muffin before baking. So a little chocolatey surprise awaits you when you sink your teeth into these soft and moist muffins.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

I have been experimenting with breads and buns recently, all thanks to my new kitchen gadget- a Kenwood Chef that I bought from Tangs on Teachers' Day! Bread-making is very much like a scientific experiment, you need to measure every ingredients accurately and follow the given dough recipe to a T. Still, no success guaranteed as there are other factors, such as your oven type and temperature, the kneading and proofing time etc. I prefer the Chinese Steamed Bun, which is much easier to handle compared to making bread, the success rate is higher, plus it is steamed!

I am so delighted to announce the launch of my food blog - Fong's Kitchen Journal on 20102010! After several months of posting pictures of my home-cooked food on Facebook, I finally decided to create my own food blog.

I like to thank my friends & family for the encouraging comments that you have given on "Fong Kitchen" in my Facebook. I am specially grateful to my dear hubby, who has been constantly nudging me to set up this blog and of course, he is also my guinea pig for all my cooking experiments - success or failure.

Meanwhile, I am still working on this blog and figuring out how the settings work.